


Liberating

by Fyre



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-14
Updated: 2012-11-14
Packaged: 2017-11-18 16:04:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/562853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fyre/pseuds/Fyre
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Regina isn't used to being called on to be the hero.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Liberating

Regina jumped when the telephone rang.

She had been so caught up in watching Henry wolfing down his dessert that the shrill sound startled her. Henry looked up from his bowl. "Maybe it's for Grandpa Charming," he said.

"I'll take a message," Regina said, running a hand over his hair gently. "You enjoy your dessert."

Henry looked at her with that same half-wary expression he had worn all day, but nodded.

Regina crossed the floor to the telephone and picked it up. David, James, whatever he was calling himself, was out to protect a wolf, leaving her with her son. She didn't understand why he was trusting her, but he was trusting her all the same, and it felt... good. Strange, but good.

"Hello," she said briskly. "The Sheriff isn't here right now, but if you want to leave a message?"

There was silence on the other end of the line.

"Hello?"

She heard someone breathe in, then out. "Is... is that Regina?"

Regina straightened up. "It is. Who is this?"

"Belle."

Regina's hand shook around the receiver. Rumpel's girl. The one she had locked up. The one who had made Rumpel promise not to kill her. She could feel Henry's eyes on her, and tried to smile and play nice. "Can I help you with something?"

The girl on the other end of the line gave a small, trembling laugh. "I don't know. You're not exactly known for letting me go." She sounded exhausted and miserable. "I-I'm kind of locked up. In the library. I can't get out."

Regina stared blankly at the wall. Of all the people to come to her for help, it had to be her. And for her to ask the person who she must hate...

"I'll be down in fifteen minutes," Regina said. "I have keys that work in most locks." She set the receiver down before the girl could say anything more and looked at Henry, who was watching her. "Are you finished your dessert?"

"Why? Are we going somewhere?"

She managed a quick smile. "Someone needs help, and the Sheriff's busy," she said. "I think we can do something about it."

He smiled, just a little, and hurried over to put his sneakers on. "Who is it?" he asked. "What do they need us to do?"

"Someone got locked in a building," she replied, wondering that the girl managed to get herself locked up again. "If we go and get my keys from the storage room in city hall, we should be able to get her out."

"You still have your keys?"

She looked at him. "Someone has to keep them out of your hands," she reminded him, and for a moment, he looked sheepish. She put her hand on his shoulder, steering him towards the door. "Anyway, I don't use them anymore."

"Except to be a hero," he said.

She almost stopped short, dazed by the concept. "A hero?"

Henry shrugged. "You're helping someone. That's what heroes do."

"Oh." She followed him down the stairs. "I didn't think of it that way."

He climbed into the passenger seat, looking up at her as she slid into the driving seat. "Didn't you ever want to be a hero?" he asked. 

She rested her hands against the steering wheel. "I didn't really get a choice," she said quietly. She tried to smile. "But we can make up for that now." 

It took less than ten minutes to get they keys and return to the library. The door was ajar, which made Regina frown. "Maybe you should stay in the car, Henry. Something could be wrong."

"I'm going with you," he insisted, and he slipped his hand into hers, brushing aside any chance she had of refusing him. 

David would kill her if they got in trouble.

"As long as you stay behind me," she warned him as they made their way into the building. "I have to keep you safe." He nodded, peeking out around her, as they crept through the open door. Regina paused, Henry right behind her. "Hello? Is anyone here?"

"Up here!"

They followed Belle's voice up through the building, until they found her.

She was backed up against the wall, pale as a ghost, and she tried to stiffen her back and look bold when she met Regina's eyes. It would have been convincing if she hadn't been trembling so much that the chain on her arm was rattling. There was a shackle around her wrist, linking her to the wall, and a dozen snapped paperclips suggested she had tried to escape already. 

"Henry," Regina said, looking away from Belle's pale, frightened face. She had been avoiding people so often lately that she had forgotten what it was like to be looked at with fear. "I need you to take the keys over to that lady, okay?" She glanced back over at Belle. "He won't hurt you."

Henry nodded, taking the bundle of keys and carrying them over. Belle looked at him warily. "Hi," he said, smiling at her. Regina remembered that expression. It was one she saw all too rarely, and that looked just like Snow's at the same age. "I'm Henry."

"Belle," Belle replied. She smiled tentatively. 

"I haven't seen you before," Henry said, trying keys in the lock. "Are you new in town?"

Blue eyes flicked to Regina. "Not exactly," she said.

"She was my prisoner," Regina murmured. 

Henry spun around, staring at her. "You had prisoners here?"

Regina couldn't meet his eyes. "I did a lot of bad things," she said. 

He rattled at the keys, fighting with the cuffs. "The keys aren't working! You said they would work."

Reluctantly, Regina approached Rumpelstiltskin's pet. "Here," she said. "Sometimes, you have to turn them the right way." He handed over the keys and Regina looked at Belle, holding out her hand for the girl's wrist. "I'm not going to do anything to you."

Belle was silent, but held out her arm. 

It took three keys, but finally, Regina found one to unlock the cuff, which fell away with a clatter. Belle drew back, rubbing her wrist. "Thank you," she said quietly. 

Regina shifted her weight from one foot to the other awkwardly. "You're welcome."

"How come you were chained up?" Henry asked.

Belle bent and picked up the chains. "Ruby," she said, setting the chains on the nearest desk, avoiding their eyes. "She didn't want to be helped." She tried to smile as she turned back to look at them, but it was fragile. "She went out to face them."

"Grandpa..." Henry whispered, grabbing Regina's arm.

"I should go and find them," Belle said. "Ruby. They want to kill her."

Regina looked between her son and the woman who had stolen Rumpelstiltskin's shrivelled walnut of a heart before she could ever take it. "Do you really think you could stop them?"

"I have to try," Belle said, eyes bright. 

"Us too," Henry said. "Mom, please. Ruby's my friend."

Regina looked uncertainly between them. "If you think we should..."

She wasn't quite sure how she ended up driving around Storybrooke with her one-time master and sometime enemy's true love and her adopted son who would have been her step-grandson if she hadn't driven Snow out, hunting for the big bad wolf.

"There!" Henry exclaimed, as a dark shape raced out a side street and sped off towards the forest. "That was Ruby!"

"And no one's after her!" Belle said, leaning between the driver and passenger seats. "She's okay!"

Regina sagged back in the driving seat. “Good,” she said. “That’s good, isn’t it, Henry?”

Henry looked at her and for a moment, his smile was bright, warm, and she wondered if this was what it was like to be on the good side. “As long as she’s okay, we’re all good,” he said.

“So we can get you home now,” she said firmly. “It’s past your bed time.”

“Um…” Belle said cautiously from the back seat. “I… I could just get out here. Now. Walk back.”

“It’s okay,” Henry said happily. “Mom’ll drive you home, won’t you, mom?”

Belle met Regina’s eyes in the rearview mirror. “If that’s not a problem?”

“No. No. Not a problem,” Regina said, fingers twitching on the steering wheel. “To Mr Gold’s house?”

Belle surprised her then. “No. I live in the library’s apartment,” she said.

Regina stared at her reflection, then turned. “But he… isn’t he your true love?”

Belle shrugged, fiddling with her fingers. “I told you I could love him,” she said, “but it takes work.” She met Regina’s eyes. “From both sides.”

Regina glanced at Henry. 

She knew how that felt.

“Come on,” she said, turning back to the steering wheel. “I’ll get you both home.” She winced. “David is going to kill me.”

“I’ll tell him you were being heroic,” Henry said. “He won’t mind.”

Regina almost smiled at that. “No. He probably wouldn’t.”


End file.
